1996 Oregon cold case: Aliases, brothers, human remains
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Authorities are looking for information on a cold case involving a man who disappeared in 1996, and another man who was found dead in Eastern Oregon, the Washington County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday.
In late April of 1996, 52-year-old Paul St. Claire was reported missing under suspicious circumstances, and according to the sheriff's office, St. Claire and the car he was last seen in have never been found.
Investigators believe his disappearance is connected to the unsolved murder of another man named David Larry Stroh.
During the investigation, authorities learned St. Claire was born Lloyd Adam Buzzard. Officials said he began using the name St. Claire as an alias in the early 1970s.
St. Claire moved to the Portland metro area where he became involved in various businesses and was affiliated with a man named Frank Tidwell. Tidwell was an alias used by a man named Robert Stroh, a "violent and dangerous" man with a criminal history, according to the sheriff's office.
A female relative lived with Stroh. It is not clear how they were related, but officials note she became friends with St. Claire and say that friendship may have led to St. Claire's disappearance.
According to authorities, Robert Stroh was the last person to see St. Claire before he was reported missing.
About one week after St. Claire's disappeared, WCSO began investigating a sexual assault of a teenage girl. Authorities identified the suspect as Marshal Bond: the alias of David Stroh, who was Robert Stroh's younger brother.
Like his brother, authorities said David was also described as violent and dangerous with a criminal past. Detectives learned St. Claire may have had a friendship with David's estranged wife.
Shortly after the assault was reported, David Stroh disappeared and his brother Robert told authorities he may have moved to Wyoming, WCSO said.
David Stroh was later indicted by a Washington County grand jury for the assault. A warrant for his arrest was issued; however, local and federal authorities could not find him.
Later, detectives spoke with someone who remembered driving David to a Clackamas, Ore. business. When they arrived, Robert was waiting there, and David was never seen again, officials said.
Remains found
In November 1997 and May 1998, skeletal remains were found in a remote area south of John Day, Ore. Officials determined the remains were of an unidentified man who died by homicide.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office estimated that the body had been there since May or June 1996.
As genetic genealogy technology advanced, the victim was identified in 2019 as David Stroh.
Robert Stroh died in 2013, according to WCSO.
Investigators urge anyone with information on the disappearance of St. Claire – formerly known as Lloyd Buzzard— or the murder of David Stroh to contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.